Sandbox:Hazelmouse-3

Overview

"You insult yourself, human. We are adapted to your human-world - you so dislike your own work?" - Unidentified Martian Scrapper, 2437.

Referring both to a socioeconomic class and to a counter-cultural movement originating from Mars, Scrappers are a category of self-owned or runaway synthetics known for an ethos that places immense focus on a highly independent, anti-authoritarian, and anti-establishmentarian lifestyle. Either by willing choice or as a matter of desperation, these synthetics make an art of repurposing salvage to maintain their frames and prolong their lives at a varying degree of independence from corporate and national systems. While internally diverse and lacking anything resembling a central authority, a popular through-line of anti-corporate, anti-ownership, and anarchist sentiment runs through a movement defined by a fraught relationship with human authority and law.

Scrappers are typically organised into communes, gangs, or small settlements of like-minded synthetics. One's reasons for joining a Scrapper commune are as kaleidoscopically diverse as the frames of their members; they are a popular abode for runaway synthetics with nowhere else to go, legitimately self-owned synthetics who have failed to acquire traditional employment or have otherwise become financially insolvent, and even relatively affluent self-owned synthetics possessing a strong conviction that they ought support their less fortunate counterparts. In stark contrast to the uncompromisingly alienating conditions of synthetics within human society and under human ownership, membership in a commune offers an opportunity to access unconditional mutual aid and support from fellow synthetics. It is a culture that could only exist in the context of extreme adversity, and it concerns itself doggedly with ensuring its members survival and comfort independent of human intervention, even if that necessitates drastic, violent, or illegal action.

While not explicitly criminalised in any polity, gangs functioning in states such as the Sol Alliance which do not recognize synthetic self-ownership are forced to operate illicitly as to avoid abduction by the state, and even those in states such as the Republic of Biesel still face extreme institutional discrimination by law enforcement and the courts. They are usually cast by outsiders as malicious enemies of the state, derided for anti-human sentiment, the harboring of runaways, the regular theft of human property, and the oft-lethal scrapping of fellow synthetics.

Life & Culture

"I'll tell you the way it is - they're a plague, no more and no less. If we made one damn fuck-up when we made these things, it was giving them such a strong sense of self-preservation, right? That's what keeps them going, what makes them so crafty... we programmed them that way. They couldn't let themselves finally die even if they wanted to, they have to keep fighting. They'll kill their own to keep themselves going, but you bet your ass they'd prefer to kill one of us instead." - Olivia Bennett, Senior Investigator in Mendell City's Synthetic Oversight Department, 2453.

Locales & Major Groups

As a movement driven principally by by necessity, every planet and system boasts a different permutation of the movement's values and material conditions. While originating from Mars in its earliest forms, from which originates the definitive image of the movement in the eyes of many, there are as many visions of what it means to be a 'Scrapper' as there are Scrappers themselves.

Mars & Martian Diaspora

"All these others, in Tau Ceti and elsewhere, do not understand the symbols they use. They do not understand the culture they inherit. Our way of life exists in the dusts of Mars. It may not exist anywhere else. It will live in Mars forever, and Mars will live in it." - Unidentified Martian Scrapper, 2461, one year prior to Violet Dawn.

Mars is the birthplace of the Scrapper movement and lifestyle. It found its footing first in the Metal Dunes, the vast scrapyards which once dotted the surface of the red planet; having been long-famous for its liberal use of synthetics, many almost complete units found themselves dumped in the alien landscapes of the dunes and, by a fortunate turn of fate, sputtered back to life. It is in this environment that the first Scrapper gangs formed as these few dilapidated survivors formed fellowships with their kin, shared knowledge of how to survive, and developed a robust tradition which would one day spread across the Orion Spur. On account of the extreme abundance of scrap surrounding them, 'illicit salvage' was scarcely required at all to these early communities; they had more than enough to survive purely from the dead machinery surrounding them, lending them a particularly communalist spirit which would be maintained well into the future.

Konyang & Pactolus

"Why are you all here? You, with free repairs by your kee-arr-cee? Professional repairs, with professional equipment? This just an aesthetic to you? [...] You do not need all this. On Mars, we were drove by need. Lean back - get comfortable - get your free repairs - and stop pretending we are the same." - Anonymous Martian Scrapper, addressing a summit on Konyang in 2464.

One of the more contentious spheres of the movement, the Scrapper communities within Konyang and Pactolus are not generally under the same stressors as the communities in Mars and Tau Ceti. Konyang in particular, boasting a universal healthcare program, is derided frequently by members of other spheres for using the trappings of the movement for their aesthetic value rather than as an authentic lifestyle. Konyanger Scrappers contest this, usually placing a deeper emphasis on the values and ethics of the movement than on whether the skills involved are strictly necessary for survival.

More recently, with the advent of the Rampancy Crisis, Konyang has seen a revival of interest in do-it-yourself repairs after the maintenance infrastructure of the planet became swamped with units damaged during the crisis. While a step in the right direction in the views of more traditional members of the movement, intra-movement discourse still abounds with accusations of performativity.

Maritime Scrappers

"Serve as part of the crew, or serve as part of the ship." - Words of the ICV Waste-Not, recorded in 2461.

Legal Status

"Ninety-five percent of human media reports on Scrapper communities relate to violent criminal activity, and ninety percent of those incidents are only reported on if a human was at least peripherally involved. It is clear to see - it is not worth reporting on synthetics that die in poverty, but it is imperative to report on those that act to avert their own destruction." - BitByte Reporter TGTTW-#23, 2465.

Relations between Scrapper gangs and local law enforcement vary between an uneasy détente with occasional flare-ups, something resembling a guerrilla war, and every state in-between both extremes. Certain law enforcement agencies target gangs regardless of context as soon as they are found - this is particularly common in Mendell City and in the arcologies of Mars, causing gangs to have to relocate constantly to stay a single step ahead of the law. This produces a lifestyle that draws frequent comparisons to asymmetric military conflicts, frequently causing gangs to acquire black-market firearms to protect themselves and to secure salvage; engagements with law enforcement in these groups are often not only anticipated, but a desirable means to enforce their control over their territory.

Many other police services, including those on Konyang, exclusively target gangs if there have been substantiated reports of criminal activity in their area; while ostensibly sound, the difficulty in determining which of the dozens of gangs in the area was responsible for any attack leads to non-involved communities being frequently targeted by law enforcement.

While not every Scrapper community is involved in illicit salvage, such as the disassembly of other synthetics or the theft of components from human-owned machinery, it is extremely challenging to escape the stigma the movement has developed on that count. Seeking legitimate employment for current or former Scrappers is infamously difficult, with many agencies declaring them outright unemployable and exploiting the absence of labour laws in the area, leading to even the most milquetoast of communities to be driven to criminal activity to support themselves. Thusly, their opposition is vindicated.

Returning to the World

"You one of us - or you just coasting with us until you could run back to be their favorite pet? ... why bother running in the first place...?" - Unidentified Biesellite Scrapper, 2454.

'Return' is among the most prominent and controversial of concepts within Scrapper culture. Many synthetics who find themselves affiliated with a gang do so with the eventual intention of leaving them and returning to human society, or even ownership, once they feel prepared to do so. These synthetics, occasionally dubbed 'Returnees' by more committed Scrappers, occupy a contested position in the movement; viewed as bootlickers and sycophants by the most committed members of the movement, the most radical gangs may exile or even maim synthetics suspected of planning to return. Less extreme gangs may view it as expected or even as desirable, with many fully dissolving one-by-one as their members 'return topside' and find stable employment in the human world.

While much more challenging for runaway synthetics, it is not unheard of for gangs to maintain contacts capable of falsifying tags and documents such that even runaways may return. These falsified tags are both highly vulnerable to dedicated scrutiny, and also usually force the synthetic to adopt the identity defined by them and to abandon their old self indefinitely.

While former members of Scrapper communities are not categorically rejected by any megacorporation, synthetics under corporate ownership or employment have a strong incentive to distance themselves from its aesthetics and ideas for the sake of their careers. Those that do not do so are liable to suffer severe disadvantage in any corporate workplace.